Supercharged 1985 Toyota Extended Cab

So I have been on this forum for awhile as a spectator for awhile, then as a poster with questions for a bit. I have decided to make a post dedicated to my continual build of my truck into a DD / Trail Rig / Overland Rig. For right now I will simple post what I have and what my plans are and will continually post as I build.

What I started with was a 1985 Toyota Pickup 4x4 that was completely stock that came with a 22r with blown head gasket. I can't remember what exactly I bought it for but i think it was 450 bucks. I replaced the engine and drove it for a few years while in college after rebuilding the engine but I kept it stock for the longest time except for a header and a exhaust. After I finally got settled in my job I was able to save up and do what I've always wanted. Build it! This make and model is by far my favorite truck out there. Fell in love with it during Back to the Future. I wish it was a 22re SR5 but I'll take what I can get. This isn't a mall crawler but I definitely baby her and don't like rock rash. This is a camping, backpacking, hiking, mudding, and wannabe over landing rig. Not a rock crawler.

What I plan on doing:
Future and soon to be changes include not in any particular oder
1. New Seats. Mine are junk and are slowing donating its foam all over my floor
2. Re-Gear the truck to 4.88's with front and rear lockers.
3. Wider Rear Axle (Already have the housing, waiting for gears)
4. On Board Air
5. Rock Sliders
6. Better lift with more flex, possibly trail gear
7. Rack over the truck cap to hold a tent, and gear.

technerd

On my '84 Xacb "Patch" I used OME front springs with Bilstein 5100's in A-P hoops and GM 63's (WFO conversion kit but with my own spring plates) with Bilstein remote res 7100's in custom mounts. Long term plan had always been to upgrade the fronts to Remote res 7100's, but the rust monster started taking big bites and it was time to sell.

Along with being a desert explorer I used the truck to chase desert racers and people were frequently stunned to learn it was a LA truck and not an IFS truck with a bunch of Total Chaos parts under it. It moved across the rough stuff pretty well. The superior dampers were part of it, but those GM 63's were trans-formative.

The front dampers were off the shelf 5100's with the std 255/70 damping in them, but the low internal friction of the 63's meant that wasn't enough damping for the rears. I installed their 275/78 shim stack and those are pert-near perfect. So if you go with Bilsteins and do the 63's rear swap just order the rear dampers with that valving in them from the start. I used 12" short body 7100's in the rear with shock tabs welded to the round cross-member and to the rear of the axle housing, and set them as far outboard as I could (upper bolts only go in from one side). I ditched the stock bump-stops and added slightly modified Nissan Pathfinder bump-stops. Note the inverted over-loads in the pic below. Those are crucial to prevent kinking the leaf springs in big hits and the GM springs don't need OAL's. They work great with no load and they work great with a week's worth of all dirt trans Nevada gear etc. in the bed.

With 33-10.50's on 7's I only rarely felt the need for the IFS rear axle housing, and much preferred that both axles were the same width.

Keystone Cruiser

On my '84 Xacb "Patch" I used OME front springs with Bilstein 5100's in A-P hoops and GM 63's (WFO conversion kit but with my own spring plates) with Bilstein remote res 7100's in custom mounts. Long term plan had always been to upgrade the fronts to Remote res 7100's, but the rust monster started taking big bites and it was time to sell.

Along with being a desert explorer I used the truck to chase desert racers and people were frequently stunned to learn it was a LA truck and not an IFS truck with a bunch of Total Chaos parts under it. It moved across the rough stuff pretty well. The superior dampers were part of it, but those GM 63's were trans-formative.

The front dampers were off the shelf 5100's with the std 255/70 damping in them, but the low internal friction of the 63's meant that wasn't enough damping for the rears. I installed their 275/78 shim stack and those are pert-near perfect. So if you go with Bilsteins and do the 63's rear swap just order the rear dampers with that valving in them from the start. I used 12" short body 7100's in the rear with shock tabs welded to the round cross-member and to the rear of the axle housing, and set them as far outboard as I could (upper bolts only go in from one side). I ditched the stock bump-stops and added slightly modified Nissan Pathfinder bump-stops. Note the inverted over-loads in the pic below. Those are crucial to prevent kinking the leaf springs in big hits and the GM springs don't need OAL's. They work great with no load and they work great with a week's worth of all dirt trans Nevada gear etc. in the bed.

With 33-10.50's on 7's I only rarely felt the need for the IFS rear axle housing, and much preferred that both axles were the same width.

Also nice truck! You've accomplished an amazing amount of work already.
Does it all work/run well together?
What do you not like about your current lift?
35s are big for stock gears, might make that top priority if all else is working nicely.

Just spend all the money.....

So I am finally getting around to updating. I used a few other forums for my build but it seems this forum has the most engagement so I will be continuing on this forum from now on.

What is coming up
1. I purchased a complete rear axle from an 88' V6 Toyota Pickup. I will be swapping the stock axle out shortly for this. This will give me a wider rear axle by 3" as well as giving me larger drum brakes.

2. My new rear axle came with a V6 differential. I will be having 4.88 gears put inside that along with a Harrop E-Locker.
3. I could not find a used land cruiser front end so I am purchasing a high-pinion front differential housing from Marlin Crawler for the front end and will be installing 4.88s there long with a front Harrop E-Locker.

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4. I will be installing IFS hubs up front with Tacoma brakes and rotors from Front Range Off-road. This will bring my front end 3" wider as well to match the rear.
5. I will also be upgrading my brake master cylinder and brake booster to help with the upgraded brakes.

My switches finally arrived for my upcoming upgrades. I am using a paranoid fabrications 1st gen Tacoma switch bracket that I modified a little to fit. With the switch bracket installed there was still a small gap on the radio bezel so I cut a small piece of aluminum and taped it to the bottom of the bezel to see if it would work filling in the gap. It worked great on the test fit so I will be permanently attaching it to the bezel with some jpweld epoxy and painting it black. I will be pulling the switch bracket back off and will paint that black as well.

I am planning on installing a locker safety switch on my A-Piller to prevent friends and dogs from hitting the switches while going highway speeds. I've already been told some horror stories so I would like to make it so I don't grenade my new lockers by accident.

Also nice truck! You've accomplished an amazing amount of work already.
Does it all work/run well together?
What do you not like about your current lift?
35s are big for stock gears, might make that top priority if all else is working nicely.

Sorry I never answered you! It all runs great now yes. I had a few hiccups for awhile. My 7th injector kit came with a faulty part that wasn't letting it run correctly but that was fixed with some easy troubleshooting. I ran into some overheating issues but that was fixed with a bigger radiator. I still need to fine tune the fuel tune it runs a lean on at certain Boost and RPMs.

My current lift is just pretty stiff and doesn't have a lot of flex.

And gears are next on my lift! Be ready to see them within the next month or two!